| New Living Translation | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder. | 1If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, |
| 2In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. | 2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities. |
| 3When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. | 3The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work. |
| 4They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck. | 4The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream. |
| 5Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases. | 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. |
| 6“The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. | 6All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken. |
| 7Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. | 7They will declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it. |
| 8O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. | 8 LORD, forgive Your people Israel You redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.' Then they will be absolved of responsibility for bloodshed. |
| 9By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the LORD’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community. Marriage to a Captive Woman | 9You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the LORD's sight." |
| 10“Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives. | 10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and |
| 11And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. | 11if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife, |
| 12If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, | 12you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, |
| 13and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. | 13remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. |
| 14But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her. Rights of the Firstborn | 14Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her." |
| 15“Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. | 15If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son, |
| 16When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. | 16when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the unloved wife. |
| 17He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him. Dealing with a Rebellious Son | 17He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him two shares of his estate, for he is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn." |
| 18“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. | 18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him, |
| 19In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. | 19his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. |
| 20The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ | 20They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' |
| 21Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. Various Regulations | 21Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid." |
| 22“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, | 22If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, |
| 23the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. | 23you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance." |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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